1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to audio conferencing systems.
2. Copyright Notice
The present application describes and illustrates original works in which the assignee of the application retains copyright interests. After a patent issues, hard copies may be made of any portions of the patent. However, the assignee retains all other copyright interests pertaining to any works described or illustrated herein.
3. Related Patent Applications
The present application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/363,720, filed Dec. 23, 1994, entitled, "Voice Processing Interface for a Teleconferencing System" (the '720 patent application), which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,588 on Jan. 9,1996, and is incorporated by reference herein.
4. Description of Related Art
Audio conferencing or teleconferencing is becoming increasingly popular, in part, to minimize costs associated with actual in-person conferences, such as transportation cost. With an audio conference, each conference attendee merely speaks with others through a telephone. The conference attendees may be at widely separate locations. Indeed, conference attendees may be in entirely separate countries.
The earliest audio conferencing systems employ private branch exchange (PBX) telephone systems wherein a first audio conference attendee calls a second attendee; places the second attendee on hold; calls a third attendee; places the third attendee on hold; and repeats the process until all conference attendees have been connected to the audio conference. Such PBX-based audio conferencing have numerous disadvantages. In particular, the audio conference is difficult to coordinate and initiate. Also, significant degradation in voice quality occurs when three or more parties are conferenced together.
One alternative to PBX-based audio conferencing has utilized service bureau providers to coordinate and initiate the audio conference. The service bureau provider, which may be the local phone company, employs a human operator to speak with callers wishing to engage in an audio conference. The operator handles any necessary telephone connecting and switching functions to enable the audio conference to occur. The use of a service bureau employing a human operator offers superior functionality over conventional PBX-based audio conferencing. However, many disadvantages remain. For example, it may difficult, or impossible, to initiate an audio conference if the human operator is unavailable such as may occur during evenings or weekends. Moreover, if confidential matters are to be discussed during the audio conference, it may be difficult to maintain confidentiality with a human operator monitoring the audio conference. Also, because a human operator is required, the overall costs associated with the audio conference may be significant.
Other disadvantages of PBX-based and service bureau-based audio conferencing are discussed in the '720 patent application. The '720 patent application also discloses an automated audio conferencing system which eliminates many of the disadvantages of conventional PBX-based and service bureau-based audio conferencing systems. Briefly, an audio conferencing system is described whereby conference attendees communicate with an automated central system using touch-tone telephones. By transmitting various DTMF tones to the central system using touch tone phones, the conference attendee can perform many of the functions otherwise performed by a human operator within a service bureau-based audio conferencing system. Indeed, the system not only eliminates the need for a human operator but provides additional functionality beyond that which is customarily provided by service bureau-based systems.
Although the audio conferencing system of the '720 patent application offers a significant improvement over conventional audio conferencing systems, there remains room for still further improvement. For example, because all communication with the audio conferencing system is through the telephone, a conference attendee cannot easily speak and transmit control signals at the same time. Moreover, if a conference attendee is not familiar with the necessary commands to be transmitted using the DTMF tones, it may be difficult for the attendee to properly interface with the audio conferencing system. Furthermore, although many additional functions are available than provided in conventional systems, many other desirable functions are still not available. For example, a user cannot obtain a visible list of conference invitees before the conference has begun. Rather, a user can only obtain an audio list or "roll call" of actual attendees.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved audio conferencing system which incorporates the automatically controlled functionality of the system of the '720 patent application, yet which does not limit the user to communicating with the system using only a telephone and which provides even greater functionality that the system of the '720 patent application. It is to these and other ends that the invention is drawn.